Chapter 1: Johannes Gutemberg and the printing press.

Gutemberg Press Story

English captions and subtitled

Did you know that inventor Johannes Gutemberg cancelled his marriage to invent the printing press?

Amazing Inventors

Learn English while learning about great investors from our past.

I invented a machine to print books, the printing press. After my invention books were cheaper and easier to make. Books spread ideas around the world. I started the information age, but during my life no one valued my work. I went to school in Mainz, Germany. When I was young, there were very few books because i t took several weeks to make one copy. Books were written by hand, usually by the priests. They wrote with a quill – a pen made from a bird’s feather and it was not always easy to read their handwriting – I asked myself: Can I invent a amachine to put words on paper? The machine will make more books in less time.

My training as a goldsmith gave me good ideas for a printing press. I started my experiment in Strattsburgh in 1436 – I had a girlfriend and we were engaged but I didn’t have very much money, so I couldn’t get married and do the experiments as well. I had to decide Should I get married or continue my work at my printing press. It was so hard to decide that I couldn’t sleep at night. Finally after a lot of thinking I told my girlfriend Im really sorry but I cant get married..

Chapter 2: Louis Braille and the alphabet for the blind

We needed an easy system, could I invent one?

When I was a child I was curious like most boys. My father had a workshop and made harnesses for horses. One day I picked up a very sharp tool from my fathers table and it hurt me badly. My eye became infected even thought the doctor tried to helo me. I was 5 years old when i couldn’t see the sun, the fields or the blue skies anymore.

One day my father heard about a school for blind people in Paris and decided to take me there.

Do you have books for a blind person? I asked.